What's the current state of play with Jolla?

[magick777]

This is not intended to be a "should I buy it?" thread, but I'd like to ask those who are using a Jolla now in January 2014: exactly how beta is it? I've read the reviews, the forums, the defenders, the detractors and none of it really tells me whether the Jolla phone is ready for primetime use.

In particular it's very easy to find historical reports of problems / deficiencies / inadequacies, but not so easy to establish which of them have been fixed by subsequent official software updates, which of them have been worked around by the community and whether there are any serious impediments to using Jolla as a day-to-day phone. (yes, I know how subjective that is).

Some specific questions:

1) What is the current state of play with LTE support?
2) Has the bug with alarm times being an hour off for UK users been fixed yet?
3) Is there support for Syncevolution or other SyncML client yet?
4) Is there native support for landscape browsing yet?
5) Is there native support for an OpenVPN client?

To provide some context: I am a long-term user of N900 as my day-to-day phone, and I am disposed to considering a Jolla as a replacement, rather than a move to iPhone/Android/Blackberry. But, it is a big move - not only do I have to buy the phone, I'll need a new SIM to fit it and most likely a larger microSD card, so it is a substantial investment. Then there is the learning curve, which also an investment.

If and when Jolla/Sailfish answers "yes" to all five of the questions above that's probably sufficient for me to buy it, but I'm unlikely to do so based solely on being "unlike". I have been watching this since pre-order and have not yet been convinced; I begin to wonder whether to buy Android now with the promise of running Sailfish on it later, or whether Jolla will be mature enough to replace my N900 in the near future...

[shadowjk]

No LTE yet
webcat browser in store is a native sailfish browser with landscape. Jolla's browser is portrait only.
No integrated openvpn support, or any vpn support at all. Works from commandline though.

[coderus]

Get Jolla, start develop, be useful. Dont be a lazy boy with a huge check-list of wishes.

[vo-de]

Jolla has been my primary phone since early December. The previous phone was N9. This period included two week trip to Philippines where Jolla was in heavy use.

The phone itself is more than decent and I don't even think about its specifications etc. - everything I need is there. Battery life is great after the NFC bug was found and worked around.

It took me about a week to get familiar with Sailfish - there are very few friendly "Next" buttons to get you started. OTOH now that I'm familiar with Sailfish, there are not many things that really annoy me -- the phone does not treat me like a simpleton (or consumer to be spammed with ads). GUI and apps looked very spartan originally, but the design is growing on me and the apps concentrate on their job without many silly and distracting UI elements. There is certain elegance and fluidity in the OS design that is lacking from Android, for example.

Sure many apps are too basic and there are some bugs and UI inconsistencies for Jolla to improve on, but I think the foundations are good. I stopped trying being power user some 10 years ago and now just adapt to various gadgets instead of trying to force them to behave my way so I'm easy customer. I use phone when I'm on the road and desktop to manage my digital life when I'm back so even the currently very basic Jolla apps (email, web browser etc) work for me just fine.

Others have commented on the check list and new OS update is coming in January so things should only get better. Not going back from my Jolla.

[magick777]

Unfortunately I'm more end user than developer... I mess around with code and might port an application here or there, but I'm not looking to buy a proof of concept or a development platform, I'm looking to buy a real-world improvement on the N900. Which I'm still hoping that Jolla is soon to be.

For me I think LTE support is a blocker; I am not keen (and it makes little financial sense for me) to go to the great lengths to upgrade the phone and SIM without taking advantage of a better connection, so I'll keep an eye on the next updates. When that works, I can probably live with or find a way around the other issues.

Thank you to all for your input. I shall keep watching, not jumping in yet, but not buying into anything else either. I suspect I will buy one sooner or later...

[richardski]

In regular use since the end of December and no real problems encountered. If you get in now you can influence future development and by the time your order is fulfilled there will have been additional improvements.

Richard

[aegis]

The bug with alarm times being an hour off is 99% fixed. It still shows a time for the alarm that is +1 when the alarm goes off but the main time is correct, setting it is correct and it goes off when expected.

Your carrier will give you a SIM for free usually or it's easy enough to cut down. LTE is a free upgrade for my carrier, Three UK, not that that matters as it's years still before it reaches outside major cities.

[hana]

For me I think LTE support is a blocker; I am not keen (and it makes little financial sense for me) to go to the great lengths to upgrade the phone and SIM without taking advantage of a better connection, so I'll keep an eye on the next updates.

Jolla already has better connections, including HSPA+ Release 8 support. Actually I've found the performance of mobile data to be the best I've seen on any device. Of course anything less shouldn't be expected from Qualcomm's latest hardware. I think that 3G's energy efficiency has also improved in recent years.

[aegis]

VPN Client support btw...

https://together.jolla.com/question/305/vpn-client/

Seems to be coming along but needs a GUI.

[magick777]

Many thanks to you all for your input; it is useful to know both that people are using Jolla as everyday phone in the UK and that identified bugs are being fixed, not merely promised for a future release. I am most of the way to convinced, I think, as far as Jolla itself is concerned.

Disclaimer: the following is highly subjective and UK specific, it reflects on my own requirements rather than on my expectations of Jolla... but it is relevant to when and whether I take the plunge.

LTE is still a highly relevant consideration for me; I live in London and there is good coverage from both Vodafone and EE here and now. A friend's iPhone 5C is showing real world speed tests of 15Mbit each way by day, more by night. It is subjectively more important to me to upgrade connectivity than to replace the handset, although the two probably go together. This is not just a matter of speed but also coverage; 3G is patchy and I am hopeful that 800MHz LTE offers better penetration than 2100MHz DC-HSPA+. For the same reasons I am likely to stay with Vodafone and pay what it costs; I want 800MHz LTE and 900MHz GSM because it frequently works in places where 1800MHz and 2100MHz networks don't.

Changing the format of the SIM is free, as you say, but it's a one-way ticket and I'm presently on a cheap, low-bandwidth deal from Vodafone that won't suit my use case with better connectivity. When I do upgrade, it's likely to be to a 4G SIM and contract (at extra cost), along with a phone that supports that. The alternative is to tie myself into 3G for another year, or to pay over the odds for monthly flexibility, neither of which is ideal. I expect that this is a short-term stumbling block anyway, so I'll hold my fire and see if it's supported in two or three months' time.

When it is, I'm not expecting perfection in other respects, but I will want to have confidence that I can use it as my main phone. It sounds like it's most of the way there already - thank you again for your input and updates. I shall probably clamber aboard the dinghy at some point.

[Silwer]

LTE is still a highly relevant consideration for me; I live in London and there is good coverage from both Vodafone and EE here and now. A friend's iPhone 5C is showing real world speed tests of 15Mbit each way by day, more by night.

I made few speedtest.net measurements with my Jolla in 3,5G network and got 18 Mbit download speed when the signal was strong. So it is good even with 3,5 G. However, yes, in some crowded places 4G would be even better.

[JohnHughes]

Changing the format of the SIM is free, as you say, but it's a one-way ticket
Not neccesarily - often sims are delivered as a sort of "russian doll" - you get the ancient "credit card" with a mini-sim you can break out, with a micro-sim inside that you can snap out again.

I'm using a (formerly) micro sim in my n900, it just snapped back in to the plastic ring left when I broke it out of the mini-sim to use it in my N9 for a while.

(hope this incoherent ramble is understandable)

[mrsellout]

Vodafone provided me with a sim without the 'Russian doll' adapter, but T-mobile pay as you go sims can be bought for 99p in shops and come with them.

As for Vodafone tariffs, I joined on a sim-only deal through quidco at a time when they were offering £130 cashback. Currently they've cut that to £80, but if you keep your eye on it, they might push that up again:
http://www.quidco.com/vodafone/